WB govt scraps IT township project; Wipro still hopeful

Even though the West Bengal government today scrapped its much-hyped IT township project, the software giant Wipro, which along with Infosys was keen to set up its facility, hoped that it would be provided suitable land by the state government.

Both Wipro and Infosys Technologies were supposed to get land for Rs 500 crore each for expansion in the Rajarhat area near the controversial Vedic village.

Wipro chief information officer Laxman Badiga said, "We are currently assessing the government announcement on non-availability of land for the IT facility and we are awaiting a formal confirmation on that."

But, he said, "We do expect and hope that the government is able to allocate a suitable land to build the facility."

Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai said, "It is rather an unfortunate incident. The state government should take initiatives to acquire the land for the project."

Meanwhile, city based Khaitan group vice-chairman Deepak Khaitan said the group had acquired 40 acres of land in Gujarat and it took just two weeks to get the land.

Both Infosys and Wipro had signed MoUs last year to expand in Kolkata at a proposed investment of Rs 500 crore each in phases. Infosys had recently said it would go slow in acquiring land, if offered, due to economic slowdown.